The Straight Story
The Straight Story takes on a new main character; an elderly man. The sense of time is much slower than in other road films such as Easy Rider or even Vagabond. He drives his tractor across state lines to visit his brother and this gives the road film genre a new meaning. It is no longer a story about leaving behind what hurts you but it turns into a story about becoming something new. For Alvin, this means accepting what has happened between himself and his brother and being able to move forward so that he can "look at the stars".
The slow pace of the movie allows him to think about what he will say to his brother when he gets there and about life in general. If Alvin would have ridden a motorcylce or any type of vehicle that went over 10 miles per hour the story would have been very different. The slow paces gives the main character time for realization about everything that he has before him.